Enabling Indigenous Trade 2025

Indigenous Peoples Economic and Trade Cooperation Arrangement (IPETCA) The IPETCA is a pioneering cooperation arrangement involving New Zealand, Australia, Canada and Chinese Taipei, which entered into effect in 2021. The United States joined as an observer in 2024. It sets a powerful example for the inclusion of Indigenous Peoples in international trade, creating a framework in which economic leaders and Indigenous communities can partner to enhance trade and economic cooperation opportunities. A key feature of IPETCA is its comprehensive definition of Indigenous trade and investment, which emphasizes the relational dynamics of Indigenous trade, reflecting Indigenous oral traditions, respect for Indigenous laws and values, the importance of an intergenerational framework and the need to safeguard Indigenous lands, resources and the spiritual interrelationship between the human and natural world. Additionally, it recognizes the right of Indigenous Peoples to develop their economic and social systems through trade and investment with non-Indigenous people and new technologies.The more significant innovations in this arrangement include the non-derogation principles in Article 5 and the establishment of the IPETCA Partnership Council in Article 9. In Article 5, the participating economies acknowledge that a) they should ensure that their trade and investment laws and policies support and protect rather than harm the rights and interests of Indigenous Peoples, and b) that it is wrong for them to reduce protections for Indigenous Peoples in their laws and policies to encourage international trade and investment. Article 9 provides a framework for the creation of a Partnership Council that comprises Indigenous representatives from each economy who sit alongside state actors to jointly determine the implementation of the arrangement and the priorities under which it operates. This is the first time such an arrangement has existed at a plurilateral level in the trade context. Terms of reference were established to guide the operation of the council, and its first in-person meeting took place at San Francisco in November 2023 on the margins of APEC meetings where Ambassador Katherine Tai, the trade representative for the President of the United States, hosted the first APEC Ministerial Meeting – Dialogue with Indigenous Peoples. 2.2 Indigenous involvement in trade policy-making As indicated in the IPETCA, Indigenous Peoples’ approach to trade and economic activity is relational, reciprocal and redistributional. Engagement with Indigenous People by agencies responsible for building and maintaining trade relationships is essential for implementing good practices and for meeting the minimum standard of FPIC set out in the UNDRIP . To fulfil such obligations, some economies have enacted a range of measures aimed at improving consultation and engagement, promoting active participation in decision-making, facilitating reciprocal knowledge exchange, creating advisory boards and working groups and ensuring input into national trade and investment agreements. However, Indigenous Peoples do not speak with one voice. Prioritizing perspectives that support one agenda to the exclusion of other voices impedes progress and can stall and even extinguish genuine efforts to achieve mutually agreeable outcomes. IPETCA sets a powerful example for the inclusion of Indigenous Peoples in international trade, creating a framework within which economic leaders and Indigenous communities can partner. 13 Enabling Indigenous Trade: Actionable Guidance for Governments